


where you belong

by hiddenmachine



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: HeartGold & SoulSilver | Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver Versions
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Found Family, Gen, Post-Game(s), Self-Esteem Issues, hooray for character growth, implied huntershipping. just a bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24836557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddenmachine/pseuds/hiddenmachine
Summary: In the Dragon’s Den, Silver trains, learns, trains some more, and accidentally finds a home along the way.Gameverse, post-HeartGold & SoulSilver.
Relationships: Silver & Wataru | Lance
Comments: 16
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

Silver doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to meeting the expectations of authority figures.

Growing up in Team Rocket’s shadow, he’d never been quite what his father wanted—desperate for the man’s approval, but not skilled or smart enough to earn it. Then Team Rocket fell and Giovanni disappeared, leaving Silver scrambling to find his place in the fallout.

Several years passed and he found his way to Johto. A stolen pokémon, rumors of renewed Team Rocket activity, and a few chance encounters with Ethan led him to the Sprout Tower. He’d won the TM from the elder, but not without a lecture on how he treated his pokémon too harshly.

And now he’s in the Dragon Shrine, kneeling before the Master and realizing he still doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing.

The Master’s question echoes in Silver’s mind. _What are your pokémon to you? Are they underlings, tools, or allies?_

He hesitates. _Underlings_ sounds cruel and pretentious, like something he’d hear from a Team Rocket executive. That can’t be the right answer.

“Uh…” Silver stops, mentally kicking himself. _You sound stupid. Just spit it out and stop wasting everyone’s time._ “Tools?”

If the Master has any reaction to Silver’s answer, he doesn’t show it. (Silver thinks it’s unsettling, but maybe that’s what the Master is going for.) “Which is most helpful for winning battles: cooperation, force, or strategy?”

“Strategy.”

“What kind of trainer do you wish to battle?” The Master speaks so calmly that it’s hard to believe Lance and Clair are his descendants.

“Strong?”

“You sound unsure.”

Silver isn’t sure whether he wants to run, scream, hit something, or all of the above. But this doesn’t seem like a good time for that, so he clears his throat and tries again. “Strong.”

“Strong pokémon. Weak pokémon. Which is more important?”

“Uh…strong.”

“I have one final question for you.” The Master pauses. “What is most important when raising pokémon? Is it knowledge, power, or love?”

 _Love?_ What is he supposed to be, some cheesy hero-type like Ethan? “Knowledge.”

The Master looks at Silver, saying nothing. After what feels like ages but is probably less than a few minutes—Silver’s half-aware he’s holding his breath, which he can’t do for very long—the Master turns away. “You are dismissed.”

* * *

Lance finds him sitting on one of the ledges over the lake, picking up and sorting stones just to be doing something with his hands. “Hey, got a minute?”

Silver shrugs, not looking up. His face feels hot and there’s something lodged in his throat.

“I’m not here to berate you or give you more chores, Silver.” Lance sits down next to the younger trainer. “I just want to talk.”

Silver finds a medium-sized stone and adds it to his pile. He swallows, trying to get rid of whatever’s making his throat so tight in case Lance expects him to actually speak.

A few moments pass before Lance breaks the silence. “What happened earlier with the Master…I know that wasn’t the outcome you were expecting.”

If Silver could manage it around the tightness in his throat, he’d scoff and say something like _yeah, no shit_. For now, though, he just shrugs again.

“I wanted to let you know that I see how much work you put into becoming a better trainer. You’ve come a long way since we first met in Mahogany Town.” Lance shifts slightly. “Don’t let this discourage you from continuing to improve, all right?”

At the mention of Mahogany Town, Silver feels his shoulders tense up. _Lance remembers. Of course he does. He knows exactly how weak you are, he’s only doing this out of pity, you fucking charity case—_

“Hey, I know that look. I didn’t bring up Mahogany Town to stir up unpleasant memories or make you feel bad about yourself.”

Silver scoffs. _Yeah, sure._

“Okay, _worse_ about yourself.” Lance pauses, shifting again. “But in all seriousness, Silver, you’re a capable young man who’s shown a lot of growth since you started training here. Just because you didn’t pass the Master’s test on your first try doesn’t mean you’re…whatever negative things you’re thinking about yourself.”

Silver moves a stone from the medium pile to the large pile, then picks it back up and starts a new medium-large pile. It’s pointless, sure, but it’s easier to sort stones than it is to think about the things going on in his life.

As he sorts, the tightness in his throat starts to fade. He gets a decent amount of stones sorted before Lance breaks the silence again. “Do you know how to skip rocks?”

“Uh…” Silver looks up and clears his throat. “I’ve never tried it. Why’d you ask?”

Lance picks up a few stones from the medium pile, turning them over in his hands. “Want to learn?”

Silver scrunches his eyebrows together. “Is this another test?”

“Nope.”

“Some sort of hidden life lesson?”

“Nah, it’s just for fun.” Lance bends his arm back and flings the stone across the lake. It bounces in smooth arcs over the water, leaving a trail of ripples in its wake.

“Huh.”

“I know you’re here to train, but it’s nice to take a break and do something fun once in a while. Keeps things balanced.” Lance picks up two stones and hands one to Silver. “Here, give it a shot.”

* * *

He sits there with Lance for a while, skipping rocks over the lake’s surface. Silver doesn’t want to jinx it, but he thinks he’s getting the hang of this. His next throw goes farther than he’s ever gotten before (which isn’t very far, but still).

“Nice one!” Lance turns to Silver, lifting a hand.

Silver flinches before he can stop himself. Lance’s face falls, and in that moment Silver can’t decide whether he feels more guilty or mortified. He looks away and clears his throat. “I, uh…sorry.”

“Hey, no need to apologize. I’m sorry for springing that on you out of the blue.” Lance’s voice sounds softer, which seems weird to Silver. _He’s got to be mad at me. Why isn’t he—?_

“You okay?”

Every bone in Silver’s body wants to run away, but he can’t—not when Lance already has so much evidence that he’s a cowardly fuck-up, and not when the older trainer is still pretending to be nice to him out of pity.

“’M fine. It’s nothing.” He clears his throat again, then looks back at Lance. “Uh, what were you saying?”

“That last throw of yours was good, Silver.” Lance gives the younger trainer a small smile. “You’re picking this up quickly.”

Silver shrugs and tries to return Lance’s smile without looking too awkward. “I mean, I _am_ learning from the champion of rock skipping.”

“Oh, you know it.” Lance’s smile widens. “Clair and I have been doing this since we could walk.”

Silver tries to picture Lance and Clair as young children running around the Dragon’s Den. (It’s a weird image.) “Who’s better at it?”

Lance laughs, warm and bright against the chilly cavern of the Den. “Wow, kid, it hurts that you’d even think to ask. Here, check this out.” Before Silver can properly register that Lance just called him _kid_ , Lance bends an arm back and skips a stone so far across the lake that it almost disappears from sight.

Okay, Silver’s convinced. “Whoa. How…?”

“Same way I became a better pokémon trainer. A lot of patience and a lot of practice.”

“Hey, you told me there wasn’t any hidden lesson here.”

Lance grins. “If I told you about it right away, it wouldn’t be hidden, would it?”

“Huh. Guess not.”

“Exactly.” Lance picks up a few stones and hands one to Silver. “Stay tuned for another hidden life lesson tomorrow.”

In spite of himself, Silver thinks he might be looking forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! i have 1–2 more chapters to add to this, so stay tuned if you're interested (i just wanted to get the first chapter published because today is father's day and i love projecting my family issues onto silver lmao)


	2. Chapter 2

Between his lessons from Lance, his training, and his various chores around the Den, Silver spends most of his time being _fucking exhausted_.

Since it’s raining, he’s holed up at the pokécenter. The warm bed and free coffee are almost enough to justify the expense…almost.

He still doesn’t have an umbrella, though, so when he shows up at the Dragon’s Den that morning he’s soaked from head to toe. Clair walks by as he’s wringing out his jacket, trying not to shiver too much in the cold air of the cavern. “Whoa, did you fall in the lake or something?”

Silver figures he probably can’t scoff without his teeth chattering, and he doesn’t want to risk embarrassing himself any further. He settles for rolling his eyes at Clair instead. “Or something.”

Clair stares at Silver for a few moments, saying nothing. Silver’s about to point out how weird that is when Clair looks over his shoulder and gestures to someone. “Lance, come check this out. Little Red Riding Hood got caught in the rain.”

“Little Red—what?” Silver turns around, wet jacket still in hand. “Oh. Hi, Lance.”

Lance gives Silver a brief once-over. (Silver kind of wishes he could disappear on the spot…or at least step out of the puddle of rainwater he’s tracked into the Den.) “Hi, Silver. How’re things going?”

Silver doesn’t have a good answer to that, so he just shrugs. “Uh, you know.”

Behind him, Clair makes an exaggerated _ahem_ sound. “I was going to lecture you on how you’ll get yourself sick if you keep standing around all soaked, but Lance is better at that type of thing.”

“That’s no surprise, considering I’m better at pretty much everything.”

Clair scoffs. “Whatever you want to tell yourself, Count Chocula.”

“You know that comparison doesn’t work when we both wear capes, right?” Lance unfastens his cape and holds it out to Silver. “On that note, take this before you freeze solid.”

“Huh? Oh, you don’t need—”

“It isn’t the warmest, but it’s something. And you’re shivering a lot.” Before Silver can protest further, Lance wraps the cape around his shoulders and secures it in place.

Unfortunately for Silver’s pride, Lance is right. Even though it probably looks stupid as hell on him, the cape is…weirdly comfortable. “Thanks.”

Clair laughs, prompting Silver to turn and make a face at her. “Aww, how cute.”

“Here, give me your jacket and I’ll hang it up to dry.” Lance extends a hand. “You can hold onto my cape in the meantime.”

“Oh, uh, sure. Thanks.” Silver gives Lance his jacket, hoping the older trainer doesn’t notice how worn out the fabric is. (He’s been meaning to steal—wait, he doesn’t do that anymore, whoops— _buy_ another one, but…)

Lance grins and gives Silver a light punch on the shoulder before turning to walk away. “You’re welcome, Little Red Riding Hood.”

If Silver comes up with a response, Lance doesn’t hear it over how loudly Clair’s laughter echoes around the Den.

* * *

His pokémon get Tuesdays off, so Silver spends the day doing chores and playing with the dratini that like to hang out behind the shrine.

He’s just finished scrubbing down the deck when he notices Lance walking over. “Hey, I saw you leaving the pokécenter this morning. I’m not sure you could hear me over the storm, though.”

Silver has to stop himself from cringing at how dumb he must have looked running from the pokécenter to the Den with his jacket over his head. “Oh. Uh, I…yeah, I guess I missed that.”

Lance seems to consider this. In the ensuing pause, it occurs to Silver that the older trainer is wearing a cape identical to the one he just let Silver borrow. _What the—? How many of these things does he own?_

“Have you been staying at the pokécenter this whole time?”

“Not this _whole_ time. Mostly when the weather’s bad or, you know, I need to…do laundry.” Silver feels his shoulders tense up when Lance’s expression shifts. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“What about the rest of the time?”

The fabric fastened around Silver’s neck rustles as he shrugs. “I dunno, wherever, I guess.”

Lance pauses long enough for Silver to wonder why he and Clair both do that _extended pause while they judge you silently_ thing.

_Is it part of their showy, powerful-and-they-know-it dragon master deal, or is it just something older people do? How old are Lance and Clair anyway? Do they seem extra old because they’re so confident? What—?_

“If you need a place to stay, Silver, you can come live with me. There’s a room in my house that I’m not using at the moment, so you’d have some privacy and your own space.”

Silver blinks a few times, unsure whether he heard Lance correctly. “Huh?”

“I know we’ve joked about how you practically live in the Dragon’s Den now, but you’re more than welcome to stay with me.”

 _What?_ “Wait, for real?”

“Yeah, for real.” Lance’s mouth curls into a slight smile.

Silver opens and closes his mouth a few times. _This has to be a trick._ “I…uh, I appreciate the offer, but…I’m fine by myself. I can handle my own shit.”

“Hey, language.”

“Fine, sorry. I can handle my own…stuff.”

Lance crosses his arms, raising his eyebrows and fixing Silver with a look that seems simultaneously disapproving and confused. “Okay, what do you normally eat?”

Silver shrugs and looks away. “If I’m at the pokécenter, they put out, like, coffee and pastries sometimes.”

“What else?”

Silver shrugs again. “Uh…you know, whatever else I can find.”

Not that Silver can tell for sure—he’s still staring at the ground—but Lance seems unconvinced.

“I told you, I can take care of myself. I’m not some weak…” Silver trails off, then shakes his head. “I don’t need anyone’s help. I’m fine.”

“I know, Silver. But just because you can do this all alone doesn’t mean you have to.”

Silver looks up, unsure how to respond.

“Accepting help doesn’t make you weak.” A smile pulls at the corners of Lance’s mouth. “Besides, kid, a diet that consists only of pastries and coffee isn’t good for you.”

“I don’t—” Silver tries and fails to think of a good comeback. “I’m not a kid.”

“All right then, _young man_ , you can’t just live off coffee and snacks.”

Silver shrugs for the millionth time that day. Sure, his stomach always hurts, and sure, he gets dizzy a lot, but he’s not about to tell that to Lance. Besides, he’s not dead yet, so how bad can it really be?

Lance tilts his head to the side, his arms still crossed. “I can give you somewhere to sleep, shower, wash your clothes, whatever you need. That includes access to actual food—fruits, vegetables, that kind of thing.”

As much as Silver likes the cheap snacks and energy drinks he’s been getting from the pokémart, he has to admit…he does miss _actual food_.

“You’re a growing young man, and you’re always running around the Dragon’s Den.” Lance uncrosses his arms. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t make sure you’ve got a safe place to go at the end of the day.”

Half of Silver’s brain tells him to run. The other half jumps at the thought of having…he doesn’t know, something sort of like a home. Or, okay, maybe not a home—that’s kind of a stretch—but at least an alternative to the pokécenter.

Neither half lets him come up with a remotely articulate response, so he just blinks a few times while Lance waits. _Arceus, I look dumb right now. Is he trying to trick me? He has to be. There’s no way he’d seriously want…_

“I’m not going to force you into anything. Just know my door’s always open, all right?” The half-smile reappears on Lance’s face. “And not just because you can pick locks.”

On further thought (and on realizing his last few meals have been coffee), Silver figures this offer is too good to pass up. He can put his pride away for a bit…probably.

His voice returns just in time— _quick, before Lance changes his mind_. “I…uh, if you’re serious, I’d like that. Staying at your place, I mean. Not the…lock picking.”

Lance’s smile widens. “Of course I’m serious, Silver. And I’m glad to hear it.”

Silver tries to return Lance’s smile without looking too awkward. “So, uh, what did you have in mind for…you know, rent, utilities, food, and all that?”

“Hmm?”

Silver mentally kicks himself. _Shit. Was it stupid of me to ask? What if I don’t have enough? What if_ —?

“I, uh, I can’t pay much—I mean, I have _some_ cash from winning battles and stuff, but…” He shrugs and looks away. “I’ve been staying at the pokécenter, losing to Ethan all the time, and buying food for myself, which doesn’t leave a lot…”

“Oh, I won’t ask you to pay.”

Now it’s Silver’s turn to be confused. He looks back at Lance, half-expecting the older trainer to pull a string and reveal this was all an elaborate prank. “Huh?”

Lance scrunches his eyebrows together. In different circumstances, Silver thinks he’d find the expression hilariously out of place coming from Lance. As it is, though, he’s still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“No, seriously. You don’t need to pay anything.”

“Wait, what? But it’s…” Silver finds himself making the same expression. (It’s different when he does it. _There has to be a catch, right?_ ) “Really?”

“I made the offer because it’s important to me that you have access to basic things like food and shelter.” Lance un-scrunches his eyebrows slightly and tilts his head to the side. “You don’t need to worry about paying rent to stay in a room that I don’t use anyway.”

Silver can’t do much but stand there in disbelief and hope he doesn’t look too stupid. _He can’t be serious. Is he serious?_

“Plus you do so much around here, even on top of your training. You’re part of the Dragon’s Den family now.”

Not that Silver has a great reference point for what _family_ means, but he’s pretty sure he’s, like, an apprentice at best…and even that sounds too old-fashioned. “Uh, _family_? I wouldn’t say…”

“Yeah, family.” Lance puts his hands on his hips, causing his cape to flare out around him. “You want to challenge me on this? Me, a well-known expert on dragon type pokémon, the Dragon Clan, and cool capes?”

“Wait, is that the look you’re going for? _Cool_?”

The smile on Lance’s face undercuts his attempt to feign offense. “Hey, ouch. You’re wearing one too, you know.”

Silver can’t deny that. As dumb as it probably looks on him ( _Arceus, he’s matching with Lance_ ), the cape has a nice texture and weight to it. It’s a big improvement from the worn, rain-soaked jacket he walked in with this morning.

“My point is, you’re always welcome here and in my house, kiddo. No rent payments required.”

“Huh.” Silver isn’t sure if the weird tugging feeling in his chest is because he’s running on watermelon bubble gum and coffee, or because Lance just called him _kiddo_ after inviting him to stay at his house for free. Maybe it’s both. “Thanks. That’s, uh…really generous of you.”

“It’s no problem, Silver.” Lance pauses again, but for some reason the silence doesn’t feel judgy this time. (Either that, or Silver’s too confused by the weird feeling in his chest to notice.)

“Now, what do you want for dinner? Don’t say coffee.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise, i'm back with another chapter after...checks notes...over a month and a half. whoops. if you've read this far, thanks! i've got one more chapter planned for this work: silver's golbat will evolve into crobat, clair will make more stupid jokes, and silver will finally realize he's found a family. hooray
> 
> fun fact: in the pokémon masters app, lance mentions that he gets his capes custom-made at a department store and buys more whenever he shops there


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Lance hands Silver a small metal box with dratini printed on it.

It takes a few seconds for things to click in Silver’s brain, partially because he’s still half-asleep (his excuse is that it’s 6:00 AM) and partially because…Lance packed him lunch? “Wait, is this for me?”

“Yup. I haven’t gone grocery shopping in a bit, so it’s nothing fancy—just a sandwich and some baby carrots. Oh, and Clair heard you were coming to stay with me, so she dropped these off.” Lance gestures to the sizable pile of juice boxes on the counter next to him. (He’s holding a mug that says ‘#2 DRAGON MASTER,’ which Silver figures must also be a gift from Clair.)

“Huh.” Silver looks down at the box in his hands, trying to think of a response. “Thanks. But you, uh, you didn’t have to do this just for…I don’t want to be too much of a hassle.”

“It’s no trouble. Took me a few minutes at most.”

As usual, Silver’s first instinct is to push things (and people, which _really_ makes him feel great, not horrible at all) away. _Shit. Did I make a mistake accepting his offer to stay here? Is it too late to run? Where would I—?_

He’s turning this over in his sleep-fogged head when Lance speaks up. “Hey, if this is about how you don’t think you deserve nice things…you definitely earn your keep with all the work you put in at the Dragon’s Den.”

Silver spots an opportunity to deflect and jumps on it. “‘Earn my keep’? That makes it sound like I’m…I dunno, a cowboy or something. Like a farmhand who’s harvesting grain or feeding the miltanks.”

To Silver’s relief, Lance laughs. “Okay, maybe your chores in the Den aren’t the same as they’d be on the Moomoo Farm, but still.”

There’s a pause in which Silver tries (in vain) to figure out what to say. Lance is nice enough not to point out how awkward he’s made it.

“Like I said, though, it’s really no trouble. Rapid-fire sandwich-making is one of my many talents…plus I’d feel bad sending you running around the Den without anything to eat.” Lance picks up his mug and takes a few sips. “On that note, what are the chances I can get you to have a breakfast that isn’t just coffee?”

“Is that green tea you’re drinking?”

“Yes, but if you’d like some I’m going to strongly recommend that you have a piece of fruit too. We’ve also got toast and cereal if you want.”

Silver sets down the lunch box and examines the glass bowl on Lance’s counter, which holds a few apples and a bunch of bananas. _He has a fruit bowl?_ “Okay, uh, I’ll take…one of these bananas?”

“Sounds good to me.” Lance takes a thermos out of a cabinet, then starts filling it with tea. “Take your time eating—just let me know when you’re ready so we can head over to the Den.”

Silver finishes the banana pretty quickly, but he finds himself dragging it out a bit because he doesn’t want to disrupt the calm atmosphere in the kitchen. Lance sits at the table reading, the sun slowly rises behind a thick layer of clouds, and as Silver drinks his tea he wonders how long it’s been since he found a place he wanted to stay.

* * *

Lance seems determined to keep an eye on how much caffeine Silver takes in (since apparently more than five cups of coffee a day is ‘alarming’), but after a few days Silver’s surprised to find he doesn’t need it as much as he used to.

He’s feeling fine…which is weird. Part of him enjoys the stability of having reliable access to food, shelter, and Lance’s bad jokes, but another part of him can’t shake the worry that he’s stagnated somehow. Plateaued. Hit a rut. Whatever he calls it, he hasn’t made much progress lately. He almost wishes Ethan would come back and kick his ass so he’d have something to sulk over.

As if on cue, Ethan and his lapras appear at the entrance to the Dragon’s Den. Silver watches from across the Den as Lance and Clair go to greet him.

They talk for a bit before Clair points in Silver’s direction, her blue ponytail bobbing up and down as she says something else. Ethan smiles and gives him a big wave.

Moments later—too fast for Silver to do anything except dust off his hands and hope he doesn’t look _too_ gross—Ethan appears in front of him. “Silver! What’s up?”

“Hey, uh, I was just thinking about you.” _Wow, real smooth._

Ethan’s grin widens. “And now here I am. Wanna battle?”

* * *

Silver loses (obviously), but he gets closer to beating Ethan than he has in a while. His pokémon seem happier too, once he’s healed them and stumbled his way through telling them _good effort, we’ll keep working on it_.

“So Clair says you’re staying with Lance now.” Ethan walks over, his typhlosion plodding along next to him. “Wanna tell me more about that?”

“Wh—” Silver opens his mouth, then closes it again. “It hasn’t even been a week and Clair’s already discussing this with people?”

Ethan shrugs, his lips curling into a smile. “It’s not her fault you’re an interesting person, Silv.”

Silver hopes he means good-interesting and not ‘I saw you steal a pokémon, you lost to me a bunch of times, and also your dad is an international crime lord’-interesting. _Of all the people that could have caught me breaking and entering_ … _it had to be a hot guy my age who’s now the Indigo League champion?_

It occurs to Silver that he hasn’t actually responded to Ethan’s comment. _Nice going. Guys love it when you’re just a complete idiot._ “Well, not as interesting as the hotshot League champion, that’s for sure.”

The words have just left his mouth when he starts to regret them. _Did that sound petty and jealous? Shit. Why am I so negative—wait, I know why._

“Nah, Clair’s probably heard and seen enough champion drama from Lance.” Ethan laughs. “There’s _sooo_ much paperwork. But I think she really does like you, even if you two are always giving each other crap.”

Silver scrunches his eyebrows together. “She does? She wouldn’t speak to me for, like, several days after I made fun of her outfit that one time.”

“I think she just enjoys the theatrics of it, you know? Like how I challenged her gym and won, and then she straight-up refused to give me a badge until I followed her down here?”

“She did that to you, too?” Silver laughs, relieved to hear someone else got that treatment from Clair. “But yeah, you’re right. Lance told me she, uh, gave him a bunch of juice boxes because she somehow knew he was going to pack a lunch for me.”

Ethan’s face lights up. “Wait, he packed you a lunch? That’s the cutest sh—”

“Shut up. I guess. Whatever.”

“Clair also told me Lance let you wear one of his capes after you got caught in the storm the other day.”

“You guys just spend your time chatting about my personal life?”

“Yep.” Ethan is trying—and failing—to hold back a grin. “Lance is here now, right? We could ask to borrow his cape again real quick…”

Silver’s eyes widen. “Oh my g—I am not putting on one of Lance’s capes. Again. I probably looked like a vampire.”

“Hey, I don’t see that as a bad thing.” Ethan’s grin softens into a smile that makes Silver understand why people write love letters…and then makes him want to launch himself off a cliff for getting this sappy. “I think you could pull it off. You look good in pretty much anything.”

An inappropriate joke forms halfway before getting lost somewhere in Silver’s brain, which currently feels like it’s overheated and blown a fuse.

“Not this time.” Silver hesitates, then shrugs and hopes he doesn’t sound too desperate. “But if you keep coming to visit the Den…”

Ethan laughs. “Oh, I’m coming back. You’re never getting rid of me, Silv, not unless you move to Unova.”

Silver can’t seem to stop himself from smiling, teeth and all, too inexplicably happy to worry about how weird his smile looks.

* * *

Ethan keeps his word, returning to the Den every week or so to battle Silver and gossip with Clair. Between these visits, Silver distracts himself from thinking about his feelings ( _ugh, gross_ ) by throwing himself headfirst into training.

He’s just finished some drills against Lance’s dragonite when one of the pokéballs on his belt starts shaking. He looks down and sees it’s the ball holding his golbat.

_Wait, what?_

He hits the button to release Golbat, shielding his eyes against the flash of light that follows.

When he finally gets a good look at his pokémon, he sees a four-winged bat…with huge yellow-and-red eyes…that’s about as tall as he is. _Holy shit._ “Crobat?”

His pokémon makes a sound somewhere between a shriek and a chirp. Its enormous wings flicker almost silently through the air, keeping the creature’s body suspended with little visible effort.

“What—I…” Silver doesn’t know what a crobat is supposed to sound like, but he’s definitely not looking at a golbat anymore. “I didn’t know you’d—”

His crobat shriek-chirps again and makes an expression that’s…either happy or pained. Silver can’t really tell, and it’s not like the pokémon’s new mouth is much help.

Through the layers of _what the fuck_ , something like hope takes shape in Silver’s head. Progress seems to glimmer in front of him, still a bit removed but undeniably there. _Maybe I’m not stuck in a rut after all…?_

He stands there, dumbfounded and probably looking like a magikarp out of water, until Lance’s voice startles him back into the present. “Hey, congratulations!”

“Uh. Thank…you?”

“Nice work on those drills, too.” Lance gives him a curious look. “What’s the shock for?”

“I just don’t get—I thought golbats didn’t usually evolve, or only if you raised them with, you know…” Silver shrugs, gestures vaguely with one hand. “Friendship, trust…that kind of thing.” _The kind of thing Ethan is good at. Not me._

Lance nods. “That’s true. This evolution speaks to the strength of the bond between a golbat and its trainer.”

Something in Silver’s brain clicks, then catches and grinds to a halt. “Wait, that can’t be it.” He shakes his head. “There’s gotta have been a mix-up somewhere. I mean—”

Lance tilts his head to the side. “Why do you say that?”

“I just don’t get—” Silver opens and closes his mouth a few times, trying to force his racing thoughts into something at least halfway articulate. “This can’t be right. I’m not…good. I don’t deserve—” he gestures vaguely— “ _this_.”

“I’d say you absolutely do deserve this, and your pokémon would agree with me.”

Silver can’t think of a response, so he just stares at the ground and wishes he could vanish on the spot.

“You don’t have to take my word for it, or even believe it right now. These things take time. Just don’t rule it out as a possibility, okay?”

There’s a pause before Silver looks back up at Lance. “Okay. I guess. And, uh, thanks. I mean it.”

“You’re welcome.”

* * *

Silver hasn’t forgotten about the Master’s test—it’s hard not to think about it, seeing the Dragon Shrine every day. It’s not something he particularly wants to discuss with Lance, though, so he decides he just won’t talk about it until he has to.

As it turns out, Lance brings it up a couple of days later. They’re standing on the dock outside the shrine when Lance suggests that it’s time for him to reattempt the Master’s test.

“Wait, really? But—what if I talk to him and he just…doesn’t let me try again?”

“He’ll let you. It’s clear you’re doing this from a place of good intent.” Lance smiles. “And I know you don’t agree with me here, but you’ve grown a lot since you last took that test.”

Silver is too nervous to do anything but shrug.

“I think you’re ready. Just remember what you’ve learned, trust your instincts, and try not to overthink it.” Lance gives Silver a pat on the shoulder and a light shove toward the shrine. “Go get ’em, kid.”

“You got it…old man.”

Lance feigns offense, putting a hand to his chest and pretending to scoff. “Wow, we’ll have to talk about this once you’re done. See you on the other side, kiddo.”

* * *

“What is most important for growth: knowledge, power, or love?”

Silver thinks of all he’s learned from Lance in the past few months. He remembers hours spent training, countless conversations and check-ins, the way Lance says _I’m proud of you_ and Silver’s starting to believe it. He thinks about how he finally understands the meaning of home. And this time, he knows the answer.

“Love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading (and for waiting almost five months for another chapter)! this past semester was A Lot, but i'm done now, so here's the last chapter...just in time for our favorite rival's birthday :)


End file.
